Ministry of Defence

Baltic States: Russia

lord campbell of pittenweem: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, following the deployment by Russia of nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad.

earl howe: The Government has regular discussions at all levels with officials from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on defence and security developments. The Secretary of State for Defence routinely discusses NATO's approach to Russia at the NATO Defence Ministerial Meetings, including on 15 and 16 February 2017, where he discussed progress on NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence. This is part of the biggest reinforcement of NATO's collective defence in a generation, with deployments of robust, multinational, combat-ready forces to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Water Abstraction: Licensing

lord campbell-savours: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 2 February (HL4792), whether they will publish the abstraction licences relating to (1) Thirlmere Reservoir, and (2) Haweswater Reservoir, with the precise locations of the abstraction points redacted.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Environment Agency does not publish the licences because these include the precise locations of abstraction points for public water supply which cannot be made generally available on national security and public safety grounds. Information on the Thirlmere and Haweswater reservoirs is already available at ‘Water Abstraction Licences - Environment Agency’ on gov.uk website.

Reservoirs: Northumberland

lord campbell-savours: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 2 February (HL4792), whether they will publish the Section 20 Water Resources Operating Agreement relating to Kielder Reservoir with any information which might compromise national security or public safety redacted.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Environment Agency does not plan to publish the Section 20 Kielder Reservoir Operating Agreement because the document also contains commercially sensitive information.